Aid slow to arrive for victims of Pomona shack fire

Between 100 and 150 people were displaced following a fire at an informal settlement on EP Malan Street in Pomona on Friday afternoon.

The blaze quickly ripped through the informal settlement, destroying around 70 shacks. No injuries were reported.

This was the second major fire in a Kempton Park informal settlement in a matter of weeks. Max Informal Settlement on Great North Road, only a few kilometres away, was wiped out by a fire on September 30.

Also read:

• BREAKING: Houses in Pomona informal settlement on fire

• City rebuilds, owner goes for eviction

• Between 300 and 400 shacks destroyed in devastating fire

• BREAKING NEWS: Shacks go up in flames on Great North Rd (videos)

According to ward councillor André du Plessis, the City of Ekurhuleni had offered no assistance yet on Saturday afternoon.

He said there was still a lot of foodstuffs stockpiled at the Impala Park community centre which were donated for Max Informal settlement residents. “This crisis needs urgent intervention.”

On Friday afternoon residents were seen standing next to their belongings across from the settlement, watching firefighters bring the blaze under control.

One of the residents, Bulelwa Mayekiso, an employee at a spaza shop in the settlement, said on the scene on Friday that the fire started at a shack next to the spaza shop. She tried to put out the fire with the help of other residents but unfortunately the inferno was already too big.

“People called us to help and we ran looking for water but the fire had already spread,” said Mayekiso.

Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for community safety, Clr Pheladi Frans Mmoko, visited the scene on Friday. He told Express on site there were certain procedures that needed to be followed before making a contingency plan.

“I will not specify what the next step will be, but a joint operations centre (JOC) will be set up, where all departments will come together and make sure humanitarian assistance is sorted out,” said Mmoko.

Ekurhuleni Emergency Services spokesperson William Ntladi said eight fire engines and 30 firefighters responded to the scene.

On arrival, scores of shacks were well alight with the fire spreading through the entire informal settlement and brick and mortar structures in the vicinity due to the strong wind blowing at the time.

The fire was contained and extinguished within two hours.

He said the cause of the fire was still a subject of investigations by fire safety officers. Preliminary information on the scene indicated a lit paraffin stove was left unattended and burst into flames inside a shack. The person was nowhere to be found, said Ntladi.

“What is of great concern is that firefighters visited the settlement last week to educate the residents on fire safety practices.”